In the last three decades, two questions have been central for the Left. Is there a future for electoral socialism and social democracy? And, is it any longer possible to promote a significant redistribution of income in favour of labour? Political and economic events seem to suggest negative...

Upon assuming power for the first time in 1935, the Norwegian Labour Party delivered on its promise for a major schooling reform. The reform raised minimum instruction time in less developed rural areas and boosted the resources available to rural schools, reducing class size and increasing...

This short note introduces the debate on the future of economic policy and reform of capitalism, to be hosted in a new temporary section of the journal. It is essential to debate how to achieve a balance between 'bread' (economic security) and 'liberty' (political freedom), in a dynamic sense,...

Can autocratic governments gain support by implementing a welfare reform and a repressive law? This paper studies a famous case - Bismarck's policies of social insurance and the antisocialist law in late 19th century Germany. The socialist party, I find, increases its vote share in...

This paper explains how growing inequality of wealth and asset inflation inhibits social mobility and the functioning of the labour market, whose efficiency is a key feature of macroeconomic theory and labour economics. However, because the composition of wealth differs between social classes,...

Social democracy, it is often said, is nice but pricey. Whatever its merits in the rich countries of Western Europe, social democracy is frequently dismissed as an infeasible model for developing countries. Based on generosity towards the poor and protection against market competition, the...